History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.150.2

v7.c95.150.2

Rewards of this world such as wealth, heroic sons were no doubt prayed for, but it was immortality (*amṛtatva*) and the joys of heaven, that were highly valued In Ṛg. X. 16. 4 Agni is prayed to take the deceased to the world of those who performed good works (tābhir-vahainam sukṛtām u lokam). The words 'sukṛtāṁ lokam' occur in the Atharvaveda²⁴⁹⁰ (III 28 6, XVIII. 3. 71) and in the Vāj. S. 18. 52. In Ṛg. IX. 113. 7-10 the sacrificer who offers Soma to Indra prays that he may be placed in that world (heaven) as an immortal, where there is never-ending light, where Yama, the son of Vivasvat, is the King, where there are joys and delights and where there are desires and their fulfilment. The prayers for immortality are made in the Ṛgveda to all gods, e. g. to Agni in I. 31. 7, IV 58. 1, V. 4. 10., VI. 7. 4, to the Maruts in V. 55. 4, to Mitra and Varuṇa in V. 63. 2, to Viśve-Devas in X. 52. 5 and X. 62. 1, to Soma in I. 91. 1, IX. 94. 4, IX. 108. 3. But about the fate of evil-doers not much is said in the Ṛgveda. In the Brāhmaṇa works greater details are offered as to rewards of good works and the retribution for evil deeds. Śat. Br. (XII. 9. 1. 1) puts forth the idea of retribution (cited above).²⁴⁹¹ The same idea is set forth as to flesh-eating in Manu and Viṣṇu-dharmasūtra, which state "that being whose flesh I eat here would eat me in the next world, the wise declare this to be the origin of the word 'māṁsa'." The Śat. Br.